Wednesdays are Top Tens-days

Due to unforseen circumstances, The Collector's Top Ten Players by Position countdown will no longer be posted 

twice a week. I've got so much going on at home that I'll have to post these every Wednesday for a while. This week, the Wheel Of Positions landed on something that didn't exist for the first hundred years of the sport: Designated Hitters

It would have been preferrable to establish who we're considering at each field position first (and third and left field... haha) but the Wheel wants us to do this backwards. Here are the top ten players who had more career appearances at DH than any specific position. 

But first (and third and left field...) let's salute some hitters who weren't quite top ten material: 

Just Missed The Cut

Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner were teammates for 6 1/2 seasons in Cleveland. While "V-Mart" squatted behind the dish as Cleveland's catcher "Pronk" was the Tribe's primary DH. The more decorated Martinez was a five-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner - incluing in 2014 when he led the AL with a .409 on-base percentage and finished second in MVP voting as a 35 year-old DH in Detroit. Hafner had three straight 5-WAR seasons from 2004-06, powering Cleveland's lineup with an AL-leading 1.097 OPS in '06. 

Don Baylor once held the modern-day hit by pitch record, though he was also skilled at getting on base in less painful ways. His 2,135 career base hits (1,235 as a DH) are the 8th-highest among players on this list. The 1979 AL MVP smacked 366 doubles and 338 homers over his 19-year career, placing in the position's top ten for total hits, runs, home runs, RBI, and games played. However his career slash line of .260/.342/.436 is among the lowest of the 20+ players I considered for this list.

I struggled to choose a 14th-place player out of the remaining dozen or so designated hitters I considered, and so I'll use this slot to recognize the Royals as a group. Their penchant for producing above average designated hitters dates back to the dawn of the position, when Hal McRae was traded to the Royals prior to the 1973 season. McRae is third among all DHs in games played and hits, though his power production (191 homers, .454 slugging) ranks lower than five-time All-Star Mike Sweeney - who produced 215 homers and a .486 slugging average in 630 fewer games. Billy Butler also deserves a mention; his career was notably shorter than all but one DH on this list yet his slash line of .290/.354/.441 is better than Baylor's and his 226 doubles as a DH are top ten at the position. 

#10 - Chili Davis

Chili Davis played every outfield position in the first half of his career. As a rookie center fielder in 1982, Davis led the NL in assists.. and errors. He led NL CF's in errors again in '83. The Giants moved him to right field in 1986, where he ...led the league in errors. The two-time All-Star moved across California to the AL's Angels for the 1988 season and promptly led all outfielders in errors. He moved to left field in 1989 and earned MVP votes for the first time in his career, making just five errors in his last full season in the field. Throughout the 1990s, he established himself as one of the most consistent designated hitters in the game - earning another All-star spot in 1994 and three World Series rings. Chili's 2,380 career hits are the fifth-most for any primary DH, and only four have more career RBI.

#9 - Edwin Encarnacion

Edwin Encarnacion began his stellar career as Cincinnati's third baseman in 2005. In his first full season at the hot corner, he committed a league-leading 25 errors. In 2008 he set a career high with 26 home runs but made 23 errors at third base. He soon found himself in Toronto, where the Blue Jays deployed him as a 1st baseman/DH through the first half of the 2010s. Batting in a lineup with Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson, Edwin (and his companion Edwing) took off. "EE" led American League position players with a 5.6 WAR in 2012, earned All-Star nods in three of the next four seasons, and topped all AL hitters with 127 RBI in 2016. With 424 career home runs, Encarnacion ranks fifth among DH-first players - ahead of three Hall of Famers.  

#8 - J.D. Martinez

A sub-par player in his first three seasons with Houston, J.D. Martinez immediately became an All-Star in a Tigers lineup boasting Miguel Cabrera and the aforementioned Victor Martinez. J.D. earned his first All-Star selection and Silver Slugger in 2015, leading the Tigers with a 5.5 WAR and 38 home runs. In 2017, the pending free agent was shipped to Arizona at the trade deadline during a season in which he set career highs with 45 homers and a major league-leading .690 slugging. Martinez signed with the Red Sox in 2018, succeedding Boston's legendary DH and leading the majors in RBI and total bases. The six-time All-Star earned a World Series ring and two(!?) Silver Sluggers that season. 

Dishonorable Mention: Jose Canseco

Two of the most infamous moments of Jose Canseco's career were in the field - both as a member of the Texas Rangers. In a blowout loss against the Red Sox, the hulking slugger offered to pitch and tore a ligament in his elbow. Three days prior, Canseco was in right field - his customary position - when a batted ball bounced off the top of his head and over the fence for a home run. If that doesn't convince someone to DH full-time I don't know what would. Whatever hijinks Jose got into on or off the field, he was built to mash baseballs. The 1989 AL MVP and four-time Silver Slugger winner was a tabloid topic as much as he was a ballplayer, and a lot of his abusive behavior has been buried under piles of PEDs. 

#7 - Nelson Cruz

Speaking of PED users who have had infamous moments in right field for the Rangers... Nelson Cruz wasn't an everyday major leaguer until his age-28 season. In his first year as a starter, Cruz earned his first All-Star selection while leading the Rangers with 33 home runs and finishing second among AL right fielders with 11 assists. The 2011 ALCS MVP was suspended in 2013 after being named as one of a dozen major leaguers who purchased PEDs through the Biogenesis clinic. Unlike most players who have been credibly accused of using steroids, Cruz admitted his involvement and apologized. He proceeded to play another ten seasons at an even higher level, posting three straight 40-plus home run seasons and earning four Silver Slugger awards after his suspension. Nellie will never earn Hall of Fame honors like our next all-time great DH, but he rebuilt his reputation while bouncing around the league as a veteran hitter and clubhouse leader well into his forties. 

#6 - Harold Baines

I have to admit, when I saw that the Baseball Hall of Fame Eras committee had elected Harold Baines I thought I was losing my mind. Harold Baines?!? There's got to be fifty players more deserving of a plaque in Cooperstown. Right? Wellll.. let's play Devil's Advocate (i.e. try to see this from Tony LaRussa's perspective) How many players have over 2,800 hits and over 1,600 RBI and are not in the Hall of Fame? Five. How many of them are eligible? Three. How many of them have posted those numbers without performance enhancing drugs? None. So maybe Baines isn't the worst modern-day Hall of Famer? He ranks among the top three designated hitters in several counting categories, and the only certifiably clean players at the position with more home runs are Edwin Encarnacion and our #1 DH of all time. 

Honorable Mention: Frank Howard

Frank Howard ended his career in 1973 as a DH with the Detroit Tigers. Had the DH option existed before that season, the "Capitol Punisher" would have had little use for a glove. His defensive metrics in left field were among the worst of all-time, but his bat more than made up for it. Howard's four-year total of 172 home runs from 1967-1970 were the second-most in all of baseball during that offense-starved span (behind only Harmon Killebrew) He finished top-5 in AL MVP voting in '69 and '70, earned four All-Star selections, and his 382 career long balls are just two behind Baines. 

While we're at it, let's shout out Dave Kingman, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, Greg Luzinski, and other sluggers who could have made this list had the DH option been available in their league and/or era. 

Our next slugging star doesn't need to bat in place of a pitcher -- because he is a pitcher. 

#5 - Shohei Ohtani

You can make the case that Shohei Ohtani is already the greatest player ever to DH. He's fulfilled the minimum requirement of this list: eight seasons in MLB with DH his most frequent position. He's the first (and second, and third, and fourth) designated hitter to win an MVP award. He's already third all-time with 280 career home runs as a designated hitter. All he needs to do to top this list and earn the title of GOAT DH is to a) not get chronically injured and b) not get involved in PEDs, gambling, or any other controversy. 

Notably, Shohei's stolen base total of 165 - boosted by the only 50/50 season any player at any position has ever had in the history of baseball - is already the second most of any player while performing DH duties. The stolen base leader at this traditionally oafish position is none other than...

#4 - Paul Molitor

Unlike most players on this countdown, Paul Molitor was a speedy singles hitter who played all around the infield. The seven-time All-Star lined up everywhere except pitcher and catcher during his Hall of Fame career, though DH was his most frequent position. "The Ignitor" stole 30 or more bases in a season eight times, led the league in hits three times and runs three times. Though he never won a batting title, Molitor batted .353 in 1987 and .341 in two separate seasons late in his thirties. No player who played the majority of his games as a DH can match Molly's 3,319 career hits or 504 stolen bases. 

#3 - Edgar Martinez

Edgar Martinez began his career as a third baseman with the Mariners in 1987. In 1990, his first full season as a starter, he led the AL with 27 errors - and led the M's in WAR with 5.6 (ahead of two Gold-Glove winning hitters). An All-Star and batting champion for the first time in 1992, Edgar moved to DH full-time in 1995 - a year in which he led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, OPS+, runs scored, and doubles. But, because Martinez didn't play a position he finished third in AL MVP voting despite having the second-highest* WAR among all non-pitchers. The standard-setter and namesake of the Designated Hitter award boasts the highest career batting average and second-highest on-base percenatge at his position, yet it took him ten tries to earn enshrinment into Cooperstown. 

*Only John Valentin (who finished 9th) had a higher WAR among position players in '95, yet his teammate Mo Vaughn won the award. 

#2 - David Ortiz

Let's get this out of the way first: in 2003, before David Ortiz became Big Papi, he tested positive for... something. No one knows what triggered the positive result, and not even commissioner Rob Manfred would confirm that Ortiz used PEDs. (Also not known - the names of 98 other players who tested positive in the initial anonymous screening.) Even if he knowingly cheated, Ortiz would still rank ahead of the original Papi, because these lists don't parse performance-enhancers. (Barry Bonds is the #1 overall left fielder) The legendary Red Sox slugger finished top-4 in AL MVP voting four consecutive seasons from 2004-07 (after PED testing was mandated); had he picked up a glove for any length of time he surely would have earned at least one MVP award. Guess he'll have to settle for three World Series rings, a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction, and the most home runs (and RBI) of any full-time designated hitter. 

#1 - Frank Thomas

I was having a tough time deciding if David Ortiz (eight-time Edgar Martinez Award winner) or Edgar Martinez (Edgar Martinez) would be the top DH of all time. 

Luckily I didn't have to decide between those two. Because Frank Thomas played 1,310 games as a DH. The "Big Hurt" is second behind Ortiz in career home runs and RBI, but his slash line of .301/.419/.555 is superior to Papi's. Thomas tops all designated hitters in OPS and walks, has a higher OPS+ than any retired DH, and earned back-to-back AL MVP awards as a 1st baseman. A five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner, Frank Thomas is the best all-around hitter among all designated hitters.

For now...

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The Top Ten By Position countdown will be on Spring Break next week. See you in two weeks with another position list.

Thanks for reading!




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Top Ten By Position - Finding Our Center

On Monday, we gave the Wheel Of Positions another spin. 

This time it landed on NHL Centers. 

Wait... there are how many Hall of Fame centers? And how many active or recently retired superstar centers? 

A lot of top-tier stars are going to be left off this list. And it's going to be a challenge finding the right ranking for the rest. Here goes nothing...

Just Missed The Cut

This was the toughest part. There were well over 20 post-expansion era centers I considered for the de facto top 15. Even a top 25 list would have left some greats off the list. 

Eventually I narrowed it down to these guys:

The New York Islanders were the only non-Canadian team to capture a Stanley Cup in the 1980s - and they won four in a row thanks to the scoring talents of Bryan Trottier. New York's all-time leading scorer ranks 19th all time in NHL history with 1,425 points. Trottier won a scoring title and an MVP trophy in 1979. He finished runner-up in MVP voting twice ('78 and '82) and retired with six Stanley Cup rings afte earning two with the Pittsburgh Penguins - who broke Canada's chokehold on the Cup in 1991 and '92.*

*Every Stanley Cup champion from 1976 to 1993 was either a Canadian-based team or had Trottier on their roster. 

Sergei Fedorov averaged less than a point per game over his Hall of Fame career, but when adjusted for era he comes out ahead of Trottier. A three-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time winner of the Selke trophy for top defensive forward, Sergei was arguably the most complete player of the 1990s. Many of his ten 30-goal seasons were posted in the low-scoring "dead puck" era, and he undoubtedly sacrificed personal stats to be a key cog in Scotty Bowman's Detroit dynasty. 

While Trottier and Fedorov were both named on the NHL's 100 Greatest Players of All Time list, these guys were somehow overlooked:

Imagine making a list of the top 100 basketball players of all-time and leaving off Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. That's about the same status and ranking that Joe Thornton and Evgeni Malkin have in the post-expansion NHL. Thornton's 1,539 career points are good for 14th on the all time list. The 24-year veteran never won a Stanley Cup but won a Hart trophy as NHL MVP in a year he was traded from the Bruins to the Sharks. (He also led the NHL in assists for the first of three times.)  

The still-active Malkin is averaging a point a game in his 20th NHL season, and is set to pass Jari Kurri for 23rd on the NHL's all time scoring list. He's got an MVP trophy, too, along with two scoring titles and three Stanley Cup rings. If "Geno" does call it a career after this season, he will certainly join "Jumbo Joe" in the Hall of Fame once he's eligible. As long as he stops high-sticking people upside the head. 

If those guys didn't make the cut, then the top ten have got to be iconic.
 

#10 - Ron Francis

The all-time leader in assists among guys not named Gretzky, Ron Francis led the league in helpers just twice over his 23-year career. He posted just three 100-point seasons: two in the high-scoring 1980s, and one in 1995-96 while playing with legends like Lemieux and Jagr. He never won a Hart trophy as NHL MVP or an Art Ross trophy as leading scorer, yet he finished his career with the 5th-most points of any player in the 100+ year history of the league. He was also one of the cleanest players in the expansion era, winning three Lady Byng trophies for gentlemanly play (basically, total points - penalty minutes = 😇 )

#9 - Marcel Dionne

The go-to "Greatest player who never won a Cup", Marcel Dionne ranks sixth on the NHL's all-time scoring list and third among centers (for now). Though he never won a Hart trophy, Dionne was the player's choice for most valuable player in both 1979 and 1980. He's sixth all-time in career goals with 731 - and second among centers behind only you-know-who. As underrated as any Los Angeles (and New York)-based player can be, I'm not demeriting Dionne for his lack of hardware. It's the "adjusted for era" metric that hurrts him, along with a pedestrian plus-minus record. 

#8 - Mark Messier

not actually my *best Messier card

Mark Messier averaged over a point a game throughout his legendary 25-year career, which spanned two distinct eras of hockey: the high-scoring 1980s, where he rode shotgun with the likes of Gretzky and Jari Kurri en route to capturing four Stanley Cups and the low-scoring late 1990s, where he remained producive enough to earn four of his 15 All-Star selections. In between, Mess led the Oilers to their first (and still only) Cup title without Wayne, and broke a 54-year drought on Broadway, leading the Rangers to the title in 1994. Though he's 10th all-time among centers with 1,529 career points, his leadership and longevity give him a slight edge over other higher-scoring stars. 

*I'm breaking my rule and posting this instead of my actual best Messier card - a Finest refractor from his ill-fated Canucks tenure.

Honorable Mention: Stan Mikita

As mentioned in my introductory post, these lists only include athletes who played the majority of their careers after 1967 (or 1947 for baseball stars) That means a legend like Jean Beliveau is excluded but Stan Mikita is eligible, having suited up for 14 seasons in the expanded NHL (his first seven were in the "Original Six" era) Mikita led the NHL in assists three times and total points four times. A Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks in 1961, Mikita ranks in the top 25 among all-time scoring centers (he's 21st) and his exemplary two-way play earned him the third-highest plus-minus rating of those top scoring centermen. 

#7 - Phil Esposito

In the 1960s, 100 points and/or 70 goals in one season seemed unreachable. Mikita and his Black Hawks teammate Bobby Hull came close to the first milestone, each notching 97 points in successive campaigns. Hull then potted 58 goals in 74 games during the 1968-69 season, setting a new record. Phil Esposito blew past both milestones as the 1970s dawned. The brother of a legendary goalie, "Espo" led the NHL in goals six consecutive seasons - including a previously unfathomable 76 markers in 1970-71. The two-time NHL MVP won two Stanley Cups and five scoring titles - including a single-season record-setting 152 points (on 550 shots!!) in '70-71. Shortly after his sixth 120-point season, the cheapskate Bruins traded him to the Rangers in a shocking blockbuster swap involving three Hall of Famers. 

#6 - Connor McDavid

Am I crazy for ranking a still-active player - who is several months shy of his 30th birthday, btw - ahead of five centers with over 1,500 career points and two with 700-plus career goals scored? Maybe! Here's why I think Connor McDavid is already a top-six center all-time. He's crossed 1,200 points faster than any player in hockey history except the top two players on this countdown. He's notched at least 100 points in every one of his last ten seasons - except for one Covid-shortened campaign. Five times McDavid has won the scoring title. Three times he's won the Hart trophy as MVP. His points-per-game average is the third highest in NHL history. He can retire right now and his legacy is secure. But he still hasn't won a Stanley Cup. If he does that, and continues to produce at his current pace for five more seasons, he'll be top-three easily. 

 

#5 - Joe Sakic

Baseball fans - think of a really, historically awful team like the 2024 White Sox or 2025 Rockies. Give them one young superstar player, a legendary hall of famer at the end of his career, and .. nothing else. That's the situation Joe Sakic found himself in at the beginning of his career. He routinely posted 100-point seasons for last-place Nordiques teams that had lackluster goaltending for an AHL squad. Somehow Sakic persevered and the Nords' collection of #1 overall picks eventually led to championships in Colorado. Sakic kept on scoring with the Avalanche, winning MVP honors in addition to the Cup in 2001. Though Alex Ovechkin pushed his point total out of the NHL's top ten, Joe Sakic's 1,641 career points and 625 career goals remain the 8th-most among centers. 

#4 - Steve Yzerman

It sounds strange to say this about the captain of a three-time Stanley Cup champion, but once upon a time Steve Yzerman had a reputation similar to that of the aforementioned Alex Ovechkin - a great scorer who doesn't have what it takes to win. After his Red Wings were swept by the Devils in the 1995 final, those hushed critiques became louder, and he was nearly traded to Ottawa. For Alexei Yashin. 😮

Luckily, the Red Wings stuck it out with "Stevie Y" and were rewarded with a dynasty. Yzerman was named playoff MVP in the 1998 Final, and helped build the next great Detroit teams as an executive. His production per 82 games played is very similar to Sakic's - 37 goals, 58-60 assists - and the two legends have a near-equal amount of point shares and power play goals. It was a tough call, but I gave Stevie the edge for playing two more seasons and winning one more Stanley Cup than his Colorado counterpart.

#3 - Sidney Crosby

I'm old enough to remember when the NHL lockout ended in 2005 and there was a weighted lottery to determine which team would have the rights to draft Sidney Crosby. I was fortunate enough to attend his first NHL game (the Devils won :p) And I can recall that there was a year or two when it looked like Crosby's career would be cut short by head injuries similar to that of another "generational" superstar, Eric Lindros. But he kept going. And he's still going, averaging over a point a game in his 21st NHL season. He's lived up to the massive hype, and then some. He's won three Stanley Cups, two MVP trophies, and scored the golden goal in the 2010 Olympics. Sixteen years after that, Crosby's absence from Team Canada's lineup may have cost his country another gold medal (thanks a lot, Radko Gudas!) 

With over 1,750 career points "Sid the Kid" ranks fourth all-time among centers and will easily slide into second place sometime next year. Earlier this year, Sid set the Penguins' franchise record for points surpassing his mentor and former teammate...
 

#2 - Mario Lemieux

Mario Lemeiux ranks ninth in NHL history (and seventh among centers) with 1,723 career points. He's 11th all-time with 690 goals, and five players ahead of him are centers. But if you know anything about "Super Mario", you know why he's widely considered the second-greatest center of all time. Lemieux saved the Penguins franchise twice - first as a player, then as an owner. He scored on his first shift, posted 100 points in his rookie season, and nearly became the second player ever to post a 200-point season in 1988-89. He turned a team on the verge of bankruptcy into a Stanley Cup champion, enduring chronic back pain and Hodgkin's lymphoma. He won a scoring title after a season in which he missed 24 games (and it wasn't close.) He averaged nearly two points per game throughout his career. 

No wonder the Penguins and Devils fought a year-long tank battle to secure his services. Could you imagine Lemeiux in black and red instead of black and yellow? 

#1 - Wayne Gretzky

I didn't add a "dishonorable mention" segment this time, because I would have either had to use it on the 30th best center of all time .. or the greatest hockey player who ever lived. Despite Wayne Gretzky's questionable history with gambling and his association with anti-Canadian politicians, there's nothing egregious enough to overshadow what Wayne accomplished on the ice. (Or is there?!?)

It's a pretty well-known stat, but it's worth repeating here: if Wayne Gretzky never scored a single NHL goal... his assists total alone would still make him the all-time leading scorer.

You can dismiss Gretzky as a product of his high-scoring, defense-optional era. You can make the case that any one of the centers mentioned on this countdown would post equally eye-popping numbers if half their teammates were Hall of Famers. You can scoff at the slight build and special treatment he received in Edmonton, having a bodyguard like Dave Semenko or Marty McSorley ptotecting him from taking hits. But you can't deny that "The Great One" is the greatest one ever to lace up a pair of skates.

Do you have a favorite hockey playing center? Is there one you would rank higher or lower? 

I hope you'll join me for our next position group top ten countdown this weekend.



Thanks for reading!

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Programming Note

I had hoped to keep posting the Top Ten By Position countdown on Mondays.. but it's a very busy time both at home and at work. I'll post one on Wednesday and then we'll see if I can squeeze in a second one over the weekend. Probably Sunday, if at all, because my daughter has her school play this week. 

In between this and cleaning the entire house/yard to prepare for Spring and having an endless stack of projects at the office to complete before Easter and my week vacation to CT .. I'm exhausted. 

Wednesday's list will be worth the wait. It's one of my favorites:

Hope to see you then!



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Top Ten By Position - episode two

If you missed it, we kicked off the Top Ten By Position series with NFL kick/punt returners. We could continue with football, or we could spin the Wheel Of Positions!

All 36 pro sports positions are listed (if kick returners comes up we'll re-spin) .... 

.... and today's position is...

Before we start the countdown of post-integration Left Fielders, here's a quick look at some stars who just missed the cut. (All cards pictured are in my collection unless otherwise noted.)

Just Missed The Cut

Lance Berkman played a little more first base than left field but he is listed as a left fielder on Baseball-Reference (and if I leave him out we're looking at George Foster or Matt Holliday). His OPS+ of 144 is 7th among qualifying left fielders, fueled by a career on-base % of .406 that would place him 4th. 

Both Berkman and Lou Brock compiled a career .293 batting average; though Brock's on-base and slugging are much lower, his record-setting speed helped him reach over 3,000 career hits. A two-time World Series champ and Hall of Famer, Lou finished second in NL MVP voting after setting a (modern) single-season record with 118 swipes in 1974. 

Minnie Minoso started his Hall of Fame career in the Negro leagues and collected his last major league hit at age 52. In between, the 13-time All-Star collected over 2,000 major league hits, three Gold Gloves, and finished fourth in AL MVP voting four times - including his "rookie" season. 

Luis Gonzalez had a dream season in 2001, but his career was far from a one year wonder. "Gonzo" led the NL with 206 hits and batted a career high .336 in 1999, earning him the first of five All-Star selections. His 596 career doubles are third all-time among all left fielders, and he ranks 8th among integration era left fielders with 1,439 RBI, 1,412 runs scored, and 2,591 hits. 

I hope you like Red Sox because half of this top ten manned the Green Monster at some point in their career, starting with... 

#10 - Jim Rice

Jim Rice is considered a lower-tier Hall of Famer, not just by fans and experts but by the BBWAA who took fifteen years to elect him. His career WAR of 47.7 is lower than Luis Gonzalez (but higher than Lou Brock) and he was often overshadowed by better pure hitters in Boston. Looking at the back of his baseball card tells a different story. Rice led the AL in home runs three times, finished top-5 in MVP voting six times, and topped the majors in total bases three times. His 4,129 career total bases is a higher mark than such legends as Wade Boggs, Joe Morgan, and Joe DiMaggio. Oh, and he literally saved a young fan's life.

#9 - Ralph Kiner

Ralph Kiner places just ahead of Jim Rice in career WAR and just below him in home runs during a career that was six seasons shorter. Yet Kiner also needed the full 15 years for election to Cooperstown. In one decade's worth of work, the six-time All-Star led the NL in slugging and OPS three times while smacking 369 home runs. Hall of Fame voters were stuck on his career hit total of 1,451 (a total lower than such luminaries as Brett Gardner and Richie Zisk) for far too long. A 162-game average of 41 homers is impressive in any era. What's more, Kiner's sustained reign as his league's home run king is unmatched in baseball history. Not even Babe Ruth led his league in long balls for seven straight seasons, as Kiner did from 1946 (his rookie season) to 1952.
 

#8 - Willie Stargell 

Pittsburgh might have Boston beat for overall greatness at this position. Including Hall of Famer Fred Clarke (who played in the dead ball era) the Pirates can claim four of the all-time greatest. The only one to play his entire career in the Steel city is Willie Stargell, who hit every one of his 475 home runs (fourth among LFs) while wearing black and yellow. "Pops" finished top-3 in NL MVP voting each year from 1971-73, finally winning the award - along with World Series MVP honors - in 1979. 

Dishonorable Mention: Albert Belle

Similar to Ralph Kiner, Albert Belle produced a lot of power in just ten full major league seasons. A five-time Silver Slugger winner and five-time All-Star, Belle was runner-up to Mo Vaughn in the 1995 AL MVP race after smashing 50 home runs and 52 doubles in a 144-game season. Belle's career was cut short by a degenerative hip and his slugging prowess was constantly overshadowed by his degenerate behavior - from corking his bat to forearm-slamming Fernando Vina to harrassing trick-or-treaters. His boorish behavior got even worse in retirement. Sigh... This is going to become a recurring segment isn't it?

#7 - Tim Raines

We're not even halfway through the countdown and already hit our third left fielder who earned enshrinement into Cooperstown in his final year of eligibiity (does the BBWAA just hate left fielders, or what?) Tim Raines won a batting title, a Silver Slugger, and two World Series rings in his 23-year career, compiling 2,605 hits (7th among post-'47 left fielders), 1,571 runs scored (6th), and 113 triples (3rd). His 808 stolen bases are good for fifth all-time among all players in all eras - and no one with half that total had a more successful steal rate than the 84.7% Raines posted.

#6 - Billy Williams

A consistent and durable performer, Billy Williams rarely missed a game during his peak years in Chicago, where he belted 20 or more home runs in thirteen consecutive seasons. The National League Rookie of the Year in 1961, Williams finished second in NL MVP voting twice - in 1970, when he led the majors in hits and runs, and in 1972, when he led the majors with a .333 batting average. Unfortunately Williams only played in three career playoff games (and didn’t record a hit in nine plate appearances.) Fortunately, he only needed six years on the BBWAA ballot to be elected as a Hall of Famer.

 

Honorable Mention: Monte Irvin

Leaving out pre-integration stars risks leaving out Negro league greats as well as white major leaguers. Monte Irvin won three batting titles as a member of the Newark Eagles, and would certainly rank somewhere on this list if he were allowed to ply his trade in MLB. Joining the Giants as a 30 year-old in 1949, Irvin played in two World Series, earned All-Star honors in 1952, and finished third in NL MVP voting the year prior after leading the league in RBI with 121. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.
 

#5 - Carl Yasztrzemski 

The Red Sox' all-time leader in games played, hits, and total bases, Cal Yastzresmki ranks fourth among all left fielders in career WAR (96.4) and first at his position with 3,419 base hits.* An 18-time All-Star and first-ballor Hall of Famer, Carol posted a major-league leading 12.5 WAR in his MVP/triple crown season of 1967, leading the Red Sox to their first World Series appearance in 21 years. Yatstremski won three batting titles and seven gold gloves - more than any left fielder on this list so far. The only thing keeping him from a top-4 slot on this countdown are some iconic sluggers, including one who preceeded him and one who succeeded him as left fielders at Fenway. 

*baseball-refernece has Pete Rose ahead of him, but I don't count Rose as a left fielder. 

#4 - Manny Ramirez

Manny Ramirez manned right field in Cleveland through much of the 1990s, then moved to Boston in 2001 and made his home in front of (and inside) the Green Monster. He was an adventure defensively, he had zero speed, and he got popped for using PEDs twice. (Also, he could be a real jerk sometimes) But boy could Man-Ram rake. Only one left fielder mashed more homers than Manny's 555. Only three drove in more runs, and only two had a higher slugging percentage than Ramirez' career mark of .585. His 154 OPS+ (also 3rd all-time among LFs) is one reason why I've ranked him ahead of Yaz. Another reason: Manny is just 35 extra-base hits shy of Carl's career total despite four thousand fewer plate appearances. 

#3 - Ted Williams

I've gone back and forth on this ranking for a week. Ted Williams? Third? Are you sure?!? The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived(TM) ranks second all-time at his position in WAR, behind only a PED cheat. He's third in home runs behind only two PED cheats. Two left fielders rank ahead of him in RBI - one is a cheater, and both played far more games than Ted. Am I punishing him for being an indifferent fielder? No. Am I punishing him for missing four years due to military service? Hell no. Ted Williams is simply stuck behind two of the most uniquely talented all-around ballplayers of all time. But neither of them - not even the cheater - hit .406 in a season, or had a streak of reaching base safely in 84 straight games (take that, Joe DiMaggio) or batted .388 at age 38. Third place? Really? Are you sure?

#2 - Rickey Henderson

Yeah, I'm sure. Because Rickey Henderson did it all. Ted Williams might scoff at Rickey's seven seasons batting .300 or better(something Ted did every single season except one) but Rickey had more stolen bases in a month than Ted did in two decades. Only Carl Yastrzemski has more base hits among left fielders than Rickey's 3,055. No one at any position in the history of the game has scored more runs than Rickey or stolen more bases. Rickey also has an AL MVP award and a Gold Glove to go along with his three Silver Sluggers and two World Series rings. He is the greatest natural(we think/hope) talent ever to roam left field.
 

#1 - Barry Bonds

Let's not forget that once upon a time, Barry Bonds was .. kinda skinny. A bit slimmer than even Ken Griffey, Jr. - and arguably a better all-around player. He won seven Gold Gloves, three MVPs, stole over 400 bases, led the league in walks five times and WAR six times ... all before mega-dosing on PEDs (allegedly.. 😒)

What Bonds did from 1998 on is unfathomable. Four consecutive MVP seasons in his late thirties. Single season records for walks, slugging percentage, on-base percentage.. and, of course, home runs. Some fans want to see Bonds inducted into Cooperstown because he was a Hall of Famer before gorging on PEDs (allegedly.. 😒) Perhaps his pre-1998 career would be worthy of induction. He wouldn't be in the top three on this list, but he would not have been #1 on my list of greatest non-Hall of Famers. 

He would have been... I don't know, Frank Robinson maybe? But Barry's inflated ego would not allow him to accept being anything less than the greatest - even if few fans acknowledge him as the true 🐐

Do you have a favorite left fielder? Is there a left fielder you would rank higher or lower? 

I hope you'll join me for our next position group top ten countdown next week.



Thanks for reading!

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